The Portland daily press., 1887-08-24
INsIDious PoIsoNs.
The Glass OF PtomaInes to which
TyrotoxIcon Belongs.
New York Tlmes.J

lNeW YORK IHneS.I
The present heated term Is like its prede-
cessors in developing mysterious cases OF
poisoning. Reference Is not made 70 such
cases as those Of the Philadelphia victims.
Their poisoning, instead Of being myster-
ions, was constructively malicious, for their
baker colored his bread with deadly paint by
the pound. His victims were scarcely con-
soled by the explanation that 1t was a Gus
tom Of the trade, nor will the later occurrence
OF other cases from like causes tend to calm
the public. A fairer sample Of Summer
poisoning was furnished by the illness re-
ported this week Of an entire family in
Mobile. Only a few days previous there
was a series Of strange deaths in family In
Wilmington. And early in July twenty -one
families in this city were taken simultane-
ously i'll after eating ice cream bought from
dealer Of good repute. The publication Of
these cases brought out several others just
like them in otherplaces. Not long before
that scores Of persons in Harlem were sick
ened by fresh milk. and which upon inyesti-
cation showed fairly good history.
The doctors explain these cases by referring
them to natural polsons which they are still
cluuyluB Dut WHICH are uOL YET WHOLLY un-
derstood. Ptomaines and tyrotoxicon are
their names. The intelligent reader who
has stumbled over these words in glib re-
ports has probably sought In vain for further
Information. The reason is that there Is
little about them in English medical litera-
ture as yet, the Italian. French and German
doctors having chiefly studied them. Twenty
years ago 1t became known that decay Of
animal tissues developed certain alkaloids
which strongly resemble vegetable alkalOids.
Chemists detected them by the same tests,
and they produced similar effects. In one
Italian case death was attributed to poison
found In the body and alleged to be malie-
i0uslv given. But other chemists brought
better proof that the poison was natural
post-mortem product. In another criminal
case ptomaines were errenously identified as
morphine, in another as strgchnine, and
there are still other cases.
Further research showed that ptOmines
must be accepted merely as a generic name
for one species Of pt0maines succeeds another
one In the various stages of decomposition.
Some OF these yartties are extremely unstable
and fleeting. while others have been identi-
fed. An American, DIR. Vaughan, of Ann
Arbor, no longer than last year, produced
crystals OF ptomaines from milk by method
the student will find set forth in the Sanitary
News Of July "a, 1886. With these crystals
Dr. Vaughan excited eholeraic symptoms In
men and animals precisely similar to those
shown by patients after eating milk, cheese,
sausage, shell fish, ice cream, &c. To this
variety OF ptOmaines DIR. Vaughan gave the
name Of tyrotoxicon, cheese poison, after the
substance in which he first found it.
Being thus hot on the trail, medical men
have a new clue to many mysteries. After
the milk has proved fresh, the cows healthy,
the cans clean. and the flavor Of the nee
cream beyond suspicion. 1t is no longer nee
essary to consider the clues exhausted. The
chemist remains to be consulted. Chiefly TO
his test does this strange poison reveal it.
self. The senses are very unsafe guide.
Some species Of ptomaines are found before
the smell gives warning. In fish 1t is pre-
cisely the ptomaines of the earliest stages Of
decomposition which are most poisonous
Thus there always was good reason, albeit
unsuspected, for the prejudice In favor Of
only the freshest fish. On the other hand. al
though pt0maines are found In the human
body soon after death, not until the seventh
day have any been found Of poisonous quail
ties. Possibly here may be found clue to
some mysterious cases OF blood poisoning.
The condition most favorable TO the develop
ment OF poisonous ptomaines Is said to be
the exclusion OF oxygen. Thus sausageS
have been shown to be wholesome at the ex-
terror, but poisonous at the centre, to which
the air had penetrated less freely. There
have been cases Of ptomaines poisoning in
which paralytic and apopectic symptoms
have resulted fatally, but, as a rule, recovery
follows ordinary care. 1t does not appear
that any special precautions are practicable
against this insidious danger, but the anx-
ious housewife will appreciate more than
ever ever that thrice armed Is she who hath her
tinning the study of this topic can be found
In the report Of the Maine Board of Health,
together with a collection Of cases which in
spired a resume Of what Is known on this
recondite subject from various sources,